Industry updates

Nagpur 24×7 is one of the magnificent project of Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited (VIL). Here are few things about the project: The City – Nagpur the 3rd major city & winter capital of Maharashtra state, Nagpur is India’s loath largest city with a populace of over 2.5 million people. It became the first city of its size in the nation to outsource its water supply to a private operator under the PPP model for 25 years. The one big objective was to provide l00% safe drinking water 24×7 to l00% of the population including the slum-dwellers within 5 years. The second major objective was to reduce Non Revenue Water below 25% in 10 years time. The contract was awarded to Orange City Water Limited — a 50:50 joint venture SPV company incorporated with equal equity stake of Vishvaraj Environment Pvt. Ltd. and Veolia Water of France. The project covers management of the entire water cycle from production, treatment (657 MLD), transport (2100 Kms of network), storage and delivery to the last point of usage i.e. the customers tap. This involves replacement of more than 3,00,00 house service connections, rehabilitation of treatment facilities, service reservoirs and pipeline. Social Inclusiveness was that every household including slums to get individual continuous piped water supply connection.

Mr. Arun Lakhani a man with a grand vision and a forward thinker makes India proud as a nation. India has vast requirement of Infrastructure building and improvement. Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd, which is heading Orange City Waters – Nagpur’s core Water Supply Manager, has managed to bring some moments of proud to the city. In the recently held World Water Leadership Congress and Awards in Mumbai, the company headed by Arun Lakhani has managed to make the cut with two prestigious awards. While Arun Lakhani, Chairman and Managing Director, Vishvaraj Infrastructure Ltd has been individually honoured with World Water Leadership Awards for his Outstanding Contribution towards Water, his company Vishvaraj Infrastructure bagged the award for Best Water Reuse Project.

The PPP route was established in last decade also saw some lean time. With New government initiative the PPP has again come with better risk sharing matrix between private and public. VIL India has been a proponent of PPP model, and has established track record in Road and highways sector. With Urban Infrastructure foray in Water, it is today the only Indian Utility with ongoing projects in Water distribution as well as Waste water treatment and Reuse.

Mr. Arun Lakhani lives by what he says “This award is the recognition of my team’s hard work which put in their efforts. It’s never a one person; it’s a team work – Satyajeet, Suresh and all of them. My congratulations to them.” His humility and respecting people has got him a far way.

Mr. Arun Lakhani goes on to say people are important to every project. And if we take their views and opinions, it benefits only only the citizens of the country but also India as a nation.

The water scenario in India has been on the uproar of the nation. With areas hit with drought and no water to drink it’s been a major concern for one and all in the country. Amongst the challenges thrown up by augmented urbanization in India one of the bigger ones is enormous increase in wastewater generation. The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) estimates that about 80 percent of the water supplied for domestic use is discharged as wastewater. This pollutes the downstream areas as it enters untreated into these water bodies. Around 38,250 MLD of wastewater is generated by class I and class II cities in India, which is estimated to grow 3.5 times to 132,250 MLD by 2050. The current wastewater treatment capacity can handle only 30 percent of the total generation, out of which too only 55 percent is operational. This translates to an investment gap of over USD 7 Billion for class I and class II cities by 2016-17.

Here is what Mr. Arun Lakhani CMD of Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited, VIL India has to say about the situation at hand – What is required is an integrated approach to water management, by integrated approach we need to see the complete water cycle as a whole. So we detect it from a source, then the treatment part then the distribution part then the customer service part. So if you have 24×7 in the distribution part that definitely improves not only the water quality & drinking water but also saves water. Then comes the second very important part is the sewage treatment. Sewage treatment and the reuse of sewage treated water complete the cycle. Sewage treatment or waste water treatment has been on Mr. Arun Lakhani’s mind for a while.

In Mr Arun Lakhani’s opinion if waste water is treated it can be used for industrial purpose, which gives leave way for fresh water to be used in household and agricultural activities in India. Currently the industrial sector, which is one of the biggest consumers of water, is supplied 89% of fresh, treated portable water. They can easily use waste water treated up to the secondary level. This not only frees up huge quantities of fresh potable water but also saves the downstream water bodies from pollution. As of now the household and agricultural sector receivers only 11% of fresh water. Vishvaraj Infrastructure Limited has been advocating this model for quite some time now and they are of the opinion that the operator need to invest 100% in infrastructure and technology for this model to be a complete success.

Successful implementation of Waste Water in India by VIL is the 200 MLD Waste Water Treatment Project in Nagpur. Nagpur City now has 24×7 pressurized water supplies for all the citizens of the city. Another waste water reuse opportunity is the Namami Ganga Program. VIL and the authorities of Namami Ganga are already working on this project.

The reuse of waste water opens up avenues for a more sustainable environment and fresh water supply to the citizens of the nation.